Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 24th of September 2022

Case name: 2022_09_24-ATL117

Situation: 55 people in distress at the Atlantic Ocean, intercepted by the Moroccan navy and brought back to TanTan

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic Ocean

Summary of the Case:On Saturday the 24th of September 2022, in the evening the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a direct call from a group of 55 travelers, including 7 women and 1 child, in distress in the Atlantic Ocean. The travelers had left from TanTan, Morocco that same early morning at 04:00 CEST. The position they forwarded us, showed that they were still close to the Moroccan coast but the engine was not working anymore. We relayed the information to the Spanish search and rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo as well as to the Moroccan Navy. We continued to stay in contact with a relative who informed as independently about the boat and also tried constantly to reach the travelers.

The next day, the 25th of September we called Salvamento Maritimo to ask about any information regarding those 55 travelers but the only rescued boat from TanTan differed a lo concerning the number of people. But the Moroccan navy confirmed that they had launched a rescue operation yesterday, and that they brought back to Morocco 55 people, including 7 women and 1 child. Since the officer on duty did not forward any further information e.g. place and time of departure we were not able to confirm the interception of this case yet. Since a tropical storm was coming up and the whereabout of this boat was still not confirmed, we decided to publish the following tweet (at 21:54 CEST, 25.09.): https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1574125195568287750: (As #TropicalStorm #Hermine hits the #CanaryIslands 4 boats to which we were alerted are in distress in the #Atlantic. ~200 people, incl. children, are on their way to the..)

The next two days we constantly tried to gain confirmation from Salvamento Maritimo, Guardia Civil or the travelers directly. Only the 27th of September at 14:23 the Moroccan Navy told us about all the last rescue operations they launched. They mention again the case of the 55 people, including 7 women and 1 child, who had been intercepted the 24th of September near TanTan and brought back to TanTan.